The written history of Brown County and the area known as Wisconsin was first
brought to light by Jean Nicolet, a daring Frenchman who in 1634 explored
the region of the upper great lakes. He is the first white man, known
to have set foot on the area known as Brown County. In his writings
he left only a brief description of the area and makes mere mention
of a river - the Fox.

1669 - Mission St. Francis Xavier:

The next visits, though unrecorded in the written record ,were by fur traders
who learned of the area from Indians who gathered around rapids and falls
of Ste Marie. Early in 1669 Louis Joliet visited the region, possibly
reaching the islands at the mouth of Green Bay, but he left no account of
his visit. The founding of the Mission of St. Francis Xavier upon the shores
of Green Bay on December 2nd, 1669, by the Jesuit missionary, Father Claude
Allouez marks a tenuous period of temporary (on and off again) white
habitation of the area until around 1687.

1680 - Louis Hennepin:

Louis Hennepin and his party, as a detail from La Salle's expedition to the
Illinois reached the mouth of the Wisconsin River on his way from the upper
Mississippi to the great lakes passing up that river to the portage and
crossing this carrying place to the Fox River and thence to the Bay of Puants
(Green Bay) where they found Frenchmen trading with the Indians.

1683 - Le Sueur:

Le Sueur a noted voyager, was at Green Bay in 1683 making his way
up the Fox River to the Wisconsin River and thence to the Mississippi where
he spent seven years among the Sioux.

1684 - Nicholas Perrot:

Nicholas Perrot began a notable figure in Wisconsin's early history appeared
in Green Bay as the trusted agent of the French Government. He was
commissioned to manage the interests of commerce from Green Bay to the west.

1685 - Du Lhut (Duluth):

Daniel Greysolon Du Lhut (Duluth) assumed military command of the west in
1685, under the superintendency of the commandant at Mackinaw. He arrived
in Green Bay and assisted by Perrot collected Indian allies for war against
the Iroquois.